Area Roundup: Seneca baseball, softball, wrestling all enjoy two-win Saturday

STREATOR — The Streator Bulldogs baseball team turned around a mini-skid in a hurry Saturday, sweeping an Illinois Central Eight Conference twin bill from visiting Peotone by scores of 9-4 and 7-4. Both were five-inning games.

Freshman pitcher Christian Benning (5 IP, 3 ER, 5 K) earned the win in the opener, backed by a five-run bottom of the fourth. Brady Grabowski tripled, homered and drove home three for Streator, with mason Telford singling, doubling and racking up three RBIs. Leadoff man Nolan Barr had two hits and scored three runs.

Winning pitcher Payton Benning (3 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 2 K) and Nolan Barr (1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 K) teamed up on the mound in the afternooncap. Logan Williamson provided a home run, a single, two RBIs and three runs scored. Sean McGurk doubled and had two RBIs, with Barr adding two more hits and another pair of runs.

Putnam County 17, WFC 2: At rural Streator, Austin Mattingly homered, doubled and drove home three, Drake Smith singled, doubled and had three RBIs, and Jackson McDonald drove home three and scored three times himself for the victorious Panthers (6-2). Smith (3 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 7 K) also notched the win.

For Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell, Carl Sass (2 IP, 6 ER, 2 K) suffered the pitching defeat. Xander Boyles and Will Weber provided the Warriors RBIs.

East Peoria 16, Fieldcrest 12; Metamora 10, Fieldcrest 0 (5 inn.): At Metamora, the visiting Knights managed just two hits — one a Noah Nordstrom double — in the loss to Metamora. Koltin Kearfott (3 IP, 6 ER, 1 K) was dealt the loss.

Against East Peoria, Fieldcrest surrendered a dozen late runs to lose the lead despite three-hit games from Nordstrom (RBI), Isaac Morse (2 RBIs) and Andrew Perry (RBI). Jordan Hochecker provided two hits and two runs batted in.

Seneca 6, Roanoke-Benson 3; Seneca 12, Roanoke-Benson 8: In a doubleheader, the Fighting Irish won ‘em both to move to 5-0 overall, 2-0 in the Tri-County.

Matt Cruise, Gage Cryder, Brayden Roe, Cole Hintze and Cole Underhill all hit home runs for Seneca in the twin bill, with Hayden Klicker and Cruise each driving home three runs and Klicker finishing with four hits on the day.

Cruise (5 IP, 3 ER, 7 K) pitched the win in the opener with Underhill (1 IP, 0 R, 1 K) notching the save. Tyler Sulzberger (2 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 2 K) got the win in the pitching-by-committee second dip.

Softball

WFC 10, Putnam County 0 (5 inn.): At Woodland’s Windy Confines, the host Warriors (4-0, 2-0) remained unbeaten by finishing the sweep of the Panthers led by freshman ace Shae Simons’ five-inning no-hit shutout with seven Ks and one Annie Oakley surrendered.

Ella Sibert (two hits, two RBIs), Audrey Jenkins (double, three runs scored) and Clara Downey (RBI) paced the Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell attack against PC’s starter and pitcher of record (2 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 1 K).

Serena 11, Plano 9: At Plano, the visiting Huskers fought back from a 7-2 deficit, scoring the winning run — plus one for insurance — in the top of the seventh inning.

Taylor Staton (7 IP, 6 ER, 9 K) pitched the win and helped her own cause with four hits and four runs batted in. Makayla McNally homered and drove home two, Paisley Twait provided three hits and an RBI, and Katie Baker had two singles and scored thrice.

Seneca 21, LW/RB 0 (4 inn.); Seneca 18, LW/RB 4 (5 inn.): In Tri-County Conference action, the visiting Irish (6-2, 2-00 romped to the twin-bill sweep with hurlers Maggie Carpenter (2 IP, 0 R, 5 K) and Taya Roe (5 IP, 3 ER, 5 K) earning the victories.

Sam Vandevelde (1B, HR, 3 RBIs), Maddy Klicker (1B, 2B, 2 RBIs) and Kennedy Hartwig (1B, 2B, 3 RBIs) starred offensively in the opener, with Addie Bland (2 1Bs, RBI), Allie Arwood (2 1Bs, 2B, RBI) and Callee Bauer (1B, 2B, 3 RBIs) doing so in the second dip.

Ottawa 10, Peoria Notre Dame 0 (5 inn.); Lincoln-Way West 7, Ottawa 0: At King Field, the host Pirates secured their eighth win before suffering their first loss in a three-team round robin Saturday.

Abby Bukantis (3 IP, 0 R, 4 K) and Kendall Eslinger (2 IP, 0 R, 4 K) teamed up in the circle against PND, while the offensive attack was spearheaded by the likes of Abi Claus with two singles and two RBIs, Ryleigh Stehl with a single, double and three RBIs, Emma Haage with a double and Lauren Carlson with two hits and two runs scored.

Ottawa was limited to one hit — an Eslinger triple — in the afternooncap, with Bukantis (5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 6 K) suffering her first loss of the season.

The Pirates return home Monday to host archrival La Salle-Peru with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.

Peotone 3, Streator 2: At the SHS Athletic Fields, the host Bulldogs dropped the home game to slip to 6-2 overall, 2-1 in the Illinois Central Eight Conference.

Wrestling

Tremont 48, Princeton 30; Seneca 44, Tremont 27; Seneca 46, Princeton 27: At Prouty Gym, the host Tigers dropped a pair of non-conference matches in the triangular, with Seneca going unbeaten.

The Fighting Irish received two-win days from Luke Sangston (forfeit, pinfall) at 106, Kyler Hahn (two forfeits) at 113, Jaden Casey (5-0 dec., pinfall) at 120/126, Owen Feiner (tech. fall, major dec.) at 132, Asher Hambry (two pinfalls) at 138, Gavin Robertson (two pinfalls) at 182 and Gavin Mason (two forfeits) at 220.

“Great day for the Seneca Irish wrestlers competing against some top Class 1A competition,” said Seneca coach Todd Yegge. “[We] scored a lot of points and got a lot of falls as a result of aggressive wrestling and effort.”

JV boys tennis

Ottawa wins 1 in quad: In a quadrangular meet, Ottawa bested Timothy Christian on a tiebreaker but fell to Hersey and Jacobs.

No. 1 singles Adam Gross (6-3, 6-3), No. 1 doubles Sebastian Cabrera and Daniel Reinhardt (6-2, 6-3), and No. 4 doubles Owen Phillips and Landen Thorsen (6-5, 6-3) scored wins vs. Timothy Christian. Gross (6-2, 6-3) added another victory at No. 1 against Jacobs.